Sweeter Than Chocolate
by Ebony10
Summary: A short Valentine's Day oneshot featuring our fave duo Chiaki and Nodame. Enjoy!


Another short one shot! Thanks for the plot bunny, et cetera et cetera!! I uploaded this on a whim so let me know if it sucks and needs to removed and/or revamped!

Sweeter than Chocolate

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Nodame crept into Chiaki's room, pausing when she saw how peaceful he looked sleeping in his bed. She shook her head. _Bad Nodame. Focus on the mission…_

Though difficult she forced herself to look away from the handsome, peaceful, slumbering, handsome… (_snap out of it!_) face of Chiaki. In order to avoid the distraction laid out for her like a buffet at an all you can eat American style restaurant (i.e. Chiaki), she recalled the episode of Puri Gurota where the gang had to break into the zoo to free the monkey…

With that inspiration in mind, she was suddenly all business. Pulling a small object out of her black ninja suit (thank goodness she had packed it with her mongoose outfit—she _knew_ it would come in handy, no matter what Chiaki-senpai said), she carefully leaned over the bed. He stirred and she froze, holding her breath. She thought she would turn blue from lack of oxygen, but he finally settled back into a deep sleep. She took a huge gulp of air. Dropping the object onto the pillow not in use, she turned and snuck out of the dark room.

_A perfect plan…now I just have to wait for Chiaki-senpai to reap what I have sown._

In the dark, her cunning smile and mischievous eyes were easy to miss, but they were there nonetheless.

_Good thing I'm patient._*

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Chiaki shifted as he heard his alarm going off. With his eyes still closed, he stretched a long arm over and hit the off button (you see, he was one of the few people in the world who never utilized the snooze button). He turned his head to the side, away from the sun, before slowly opening them. Almost the moment they were open, they narrowed. What was on his pillow?

He picked up the small, shining object and looked at it quizzically. His gaze drifted to the wall calendar in his room and he allowed one side of his mouth to lift in a small smile. Today was Wednesday—more specifically, it was the fourteenth of February. Valentine's Day. He looked back at the object in his hands, surprising himself when a chuckle escaped.

A Hershey kiss. Clearly from Nodame.

Only two people beside Chiaki had a key to his apartment and his mother certainly wouldn't sneak around in the dead of night to deliver a single piece of chocolate. Not homemade like the traditional Valentine's Day custom in Japan (_thank God for that_, he shuddered). But, knowing how Nodame liked to be traditional in many aspects of their relationship (she _loved_ playing the traditional wife/girlfriend), he knew that choosing this specific store-bought chocolate had a meaning.

And it wasn't very hard to figure out. She obviously wanted a kiss. She had tried before to get in sneak attacks (kisses), but he had always evaded her so it was no surprise that she found a way around that, a way to continue her show of affection. He sat up, hesitating. He was unsure of what to do with the candy. Shrugging, he opened it and popped the chocolate into his mouth. As he was setting the wrapper aside, the small, thin piece of paper that stuck out of the wrapper fluttered to the blankets in front of him. He picked it up, reading.

The company written letters _I LOVE YOU_ were accompanied by Nodame's scrawl _Chiaki senpai_. His breath caught in his throat. It was something he heard all the time, but somehow it was different.

With the sun streaming through his window, chocolate melting on his tongue, the warm comfortable knowledge that Nodame had been there in the night, and the simplistic message in his palm, he let himself feel what it was to have someone there who cared for you and always would, no matter what. Even if he was deaf or blind or could never conduct music again, he knew she'd be there. She was always there, even if not physically—he's just been too dense to realize it. Even when he pushed her away, she was there. Just like she was here now, as he held the paper with her unending message (one that used to annoy him to no end and now touched him as no one else could).

He stared at the paper in his hand, thinking. After a few minutes, he smiled. The smile grew into a chuckle before becoming a full-fledged laugh. The unfamiliar sound of his happy laughter filled the apartment.

If only Nodame knew that, had she tried one of her sneak attacks, he wouldn't have pushed her away this time. That's irony for you…

He wouldn't push her away because he was realizing that he wanted it, too. Wanted something sweeter than even a chocolate kiss…

Well, there's another for the VDay Ficathon! Hope you enjoyed it! I've now resigned myself to being the only participant (except for you, et cetera et cetera, because I _know _you have one up your sleeve)…so share your thoughts with me if you get a chance. I know it was a little cheesy. Sigh. Anyway: Happy Valentine's Day!!!!


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